[LLVMdev] vectors of pointers (why not?)

[David A. Greene]

Andrew Clinton <andrew at sidefx.com> writes:

> Could you use an array of pointers instead? As far as I'm aware, the 
> vector types in LLVM are intended to abstract the vector units on modern 
> CPUs (SSE, etc.) which generally support operations on only integers and 
> floating point values, which may be why there isn't native support for 
> vectors of pointers.

Except that modern processors are far more expressive than SSE.  Knights
Ferry has gather/scatter instructions.  Now I know Knights Ferry isn't a
supported target and probably won't be for a while, if ever, but
something that looks like it is almost certainly going to go mainstream
in the next 2-3 years.

It's certainly worth seriously considering how LLVM will support more
traditional vector-style ISAs in the near future.

                                    -Dave